Walking is one of the easiest and most accessible ways to stay active. It’s free, doesn’t require any special equipment, and can help with a wide range of health conditions. Walking can ease symptoms like tiredness, pain, and breathlessness, and it’s also great for your heart, brain, and mood.
Walking can improve your fitness, and your leg muscle strength and balance. It can also help to prevent common conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and dementia. It helps to improve your sleep and reduce tiredness.
It is also good for your mental wellbeing. A short walk in the fresh air can clear your mind, ease stress, and help you feel more focused and positive.
Walking is a free and effective way to build your cardio fitness.
Walking helps your leg and core strength, but extra strength work is useful too.
Walking helps your balance. If you worry about falling, use poles or a stick until you feel more confident.
Yes! Walking strengthens your legs and core. Using walking sticks or carrying light hand weights can help build upper body strength too.
If you’re worried about balance, Nordic walking (using poles) can help you feel more stable and confident.
Try the “talk test”, If you can talk but not sing while walking, you’re at a moderate intensity/pace.
Find out more about exercise intensity here.
Comfortable clothes and supportive shoes/trainers are ideal.
That’s a common concern. Try walking with a friend or family member to begin with. Using walking poles or sticks can improve stability. You can also practise balance exercises at home.
You’re not alone. Try building walking into your daily routine, for example:
Walking with friends or family can also help, or try listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks. If you love animals, you could volunteer to walk someone’s dog.
It can be hard to know where to start when trying to move more. Everyone begins at a different point, depending on how active they are, how easily they move, and how strong they feel.
To get started, choose the option that best matches what you usually do on an average day in each column below. Look at your daily activities, mobility, and strength to find a sensible place to begin. Then click on the ‘see results’ button to reveal where you should start.
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If walking feels difficult, you can still move in other ways. Try marching on the spot while seated or doing sit-to-stand exercises. Water walking at your local pool is another good option, the water supports your joints and helps build confidence.
Start with short, gentle walks, just a few minutes at a time. Walk at a pace that feels comfortable. Water walking is still a great option. You could also try Nordic walking to improve your posture and balance.
Walk more often and for longer. Try walking to the shops or using walking instead of transport. Consider walking with others or joining a local group.
Challenge yourself by walking uphill or on uneven ground. Walk briskly to build your endurance. You could also carry light weights or a backpack to increase strength.
Go further or faster if you feel ready. You might even want to try jogging. Here is a plan to get you from the couch to 5km. Remember, you can go at your own pace and build as quickly or slowly as you like.
Yes! There are many ways to enjoy walking at your own pace. Lots of people find walking aids helpful. From using nordic poles to walking sticks or frames.
The Ramblers is an organisation who seek to pave the way for everyone to enjoy the simple pleasures of walking and step up to protect the places we all love to wander.
Living Streets is a charity which believes walking is the natural choice for everyday local journeys. Their mission is to achieve a better walking environment and inspire people to walk.
Scotland's national walking and wheeling charity - Walking Scotland (previously Paths to All)
The new name for Sustrans- the charity making it possible for everyone to walk, wheel and cycle. Custodians of the National Cycle Network.
Widen participation in the outdoors by supporting people from global majority ethnic communities to become qualified walk leaders.
Whether you’re planning a short stroll or multi-day hike you’ll find lots of information on the National Trails website.
Nordic Walking UK pioneered traditional Nordic Walking in the UK and has helped tens of thousands of people get more active through walking-based programmes for over two decades.
This site has been put together by specialists in exercise medicine and supported and funded by Nuffield Health Charity. In collaboration with academic experts, specialists in behavioural change, medics across a wide spectrum of specialties, physiotherapists, nurses and most importantly, people living with the symptoms of long term conditions. Through our rigorous academic process we have carefully ensured that all the information on this website is trustworthy and evidence based.
The following organisations have contributed to and endorsed the content of this website.
